DirtModeler

Try this.. overhead transparency film.. and rit dye.. hot water to nearly boiling. it's about .005" thick. I'm pretty sure it will work.. so much so that i'm going to buy some black dye tonight because i have a tinting job i need as well.. from what i've read transparancy film is a different kind of plastic that can absorb the dye.. unlike lexan or something like that. I'll find out for certain by the end of the weekend. It's kind of funny this thread popped up, because i've been waiting for the day to get over so i can get to the store and get some black rit dye for my project! (i already have the transparancy film..i use it a lot)

I think I think we should take the judges out of it.. egos shouldn't be at play in these things.. give each person who walks in the door 5 tickets, and let them put them into the jar next to the 5 models they like the most.. most tickets win.. I don't think 'technical excellence' or 'most authentic build' should matter.. if it looks cool.. it looks cool.. that should be what matters.. it shouldn't matter how you got there.

I think it's shortsightedness and stubbornness.. it's a long tradition spanning generations.. comments on the subject are pretty much the exact same as they would be, no matter the decade. go to any decade.. the 1960's, 70's, 80's, whatever.. and you'll find 40 year olds grumbling at the stupid kids and their stupid hot rods.. proclaiming that their hot rods are far superior, and the younger kid's cars are a waste of time and money.. i personally feel that dirt racing is taking a huge hit to its future because of the huge aversion to turners.. it has in essence cut off a whole generation of car enthusiasts from the sport.. since the 'stupid tuners' are just a waste time time and money.. I don't much care of them, but i understand that in the grand scheme of things, tuners are just the modern hot rod that all the kids are interested in.. 30 years from now, the kids who are into tuners will all be talking about how all the stupid kids are wasting their time and money on their dumb electric cars, and that they should be spending more time working on the superior 4-cylinder tuners.. it's the same thing, just repeated in a new way every decade.

and one comparison shot of these cars, and a normal Hot Wheel for scale.

A little later in Dirt Late Model history, we come to 1987, where the Wedge Cars were mostly banned. These smaller bodied dirt late models ruled the tracks. This is the first decal build of the 1987 Barren County Kit.

i'm sure glad you liked them.. making parts is kind of an odd thing because i honestly never know exactly how people will like and use them... it's always a sigh of relief when people enjoy the fiddly-bits that i put out and can put them to good use.

I sure appreciate it! but actually, the size being difficult is really just a problem with perspective. It honestly doesn't mean i'm a super modeler because i can work at that scale! i'll bet most people have smaller details and parts just in the engine of their 1:24th build then there are in this 1:64 car.. actually there are builds in 1:16th scale with smaller parts then this 1:64 car! The only difference is.. perspective. Take a distributor, the size of a distributor in 1:24 is about the same size as a wheel in 1:64. Now some people.. actually.. lots of people.. hand drill 8 holes in that little distributor and run plug wires through it.. an MSD decal on the side of that 1:24 distributor would be about the same size as a 'Hoosier' decal on that 1:64 tire.. The tiny photo-etched beadlock that goes onto that 1:64 wheel, is actually a lot larger then the 1:24th photo-etched Ford emblem that a lot of modelers put on their cars without any problem. It's all just a matter of perspective.. the parts themselves actually aren't any smaller, there are just fewer of them.

Thanks! they are a lot of fun. here's one a little farther along, just a few more things to do and it will be all done.

I'll just throw all of the images into one thread. The first build-ups of the new kits are underway.. I'm working on them two at a time. Lots of fun so far!

HI Vernon, Kits will be $17.95.. I've been scratching and fighting to get them under $18 since their inception. I currently don't have any plans to offer decals. My hope is that other decal suppliers step up to offer some various lines of decals for these. The idea behind this whole line was to create a tool kit for modelers to create just about any dirt late model from the mid 1980's up to today.. The first wave is just these 4 cars. If they are well received, i'll continue on with another 4 different body styles, roof and nose options, etc. The possibilities are endless as long is there is ample demand to justify the setup costs and development time of additional kits.

The new parts have just arrived. These kits will be photoetched brass with resin wheels and tires. I hope to have them available in about 3 weeks. More pictures to come once i have fully painted ones completed for a photo session. thanks for looking! - Dirt Modeler

I just wanted to pipe in that i think it's cool everyone pooling together against a rip caster. I had a much different experience, which is why i've been silent on those who are copying my stuff. On a facebook group, someone had posted photos of my work and where he'd gotten it.. and someone posted "that's awesome!, i'm going to make resin copies of it!"... and the thread continued.. not a single person piping up and calling them out on it.. (i didn't say anything because i wanted to see where the thread would go) Low and behold a few weeks later, that same person loudly proclaiming they were going to copy my part.. has a freshly cast copy of it.. and now they are selling them. the thing that bums me out? Is that people heap on the compliments on the poorly cast copy being used, and few even mention the original that the copy was made from. It makes me wonder why i would ever want to invest that kind of time and money again to make something else that is just going to be copied and thrown aside? I don't really feel like being the R&D division for rip casters. It played a big part in me abandoning R&D for anything new in 1:24th that was castable.. and switching to full kits in 1:64 at a price point that even a rip caster would lose money on.

yeah, annealing helps quite a lot. Heat with a propane torch (it gets brass hotter faster then using butane).. i put the stuff on a brick to heat it, then when red hot roll it into a water dish. i used that method on my headers, but used solid brass rod.

I understand the frustration. I've seen re-pops of my stuff showing up too. I was initially pretty mad, but just came to terms with it. Resin casters come and go, most of the people who buy from people who sell re-pops are going to get ripped off sooner or later. A lot of these businesses fold when it stops being fun. If you take a risk at buying a knock-off from someone to save a few bucks, you have to accept the consequences when the stream of excuses as to why your order hasn't shipped for six months starts coming. People that are in the business for the long haul work hard to build a reputation as a solid and trusted entity. We give up our nights and weekends to make sure that orders are filled in a timely manner, and we don't sell what we don't have in stock. I would be leery of anyone who sells cast parts to order. Legal proceedings against a re-pop caster is a waste of time and money. Just ride on your reputation of trust and quality and time will sort out the rest. I wouldn't even post about the person re-popping your stuff.. it just drives traffic to them, and it's free advertising for them.

Those Flex's are super nice. Thought about one for myself. Well I gotta hand it to Indiana Craftsman, they build a great car.

I don't really know why anyone would knock the USPS. I can tell you from a LOT of experience that it is an incredible organization. I have literally sent thousands of shipments via the USPS over the years, and i think MAYBE one of them was lost. Maybe one, i question it to this day... and the shipping cost of my box is $3.25. About a month ago, i had a package that needed to go out, and i happened to be at FedEX mailing some packages for the corporation i work for, and thought "hey, i'll just send it FedEX instead of driving to the Post Office". The same box that cost me $3.25 to mail First Class USPS, cost me... ~$12!! and it shipped ground.. even SLOWER then the USPS would have taken. I'll take the USPS any day of the week over FedEX, unless i need it there tomorrow.

Agreed. I drive a 2014 Subaru Crosstrek that I hear was built in Tennessee. And I love my subie. I have a ford truck too, but its just for hauling and dump runs now.

I don't think the problems are new.. they are just under closer scrutiny now that the government is involved. The GM recall debocle and lawsuit due to deaths because they DIDN'T issue a recall is what is making them do all these recalls now.. otherwise it would have just been swept under the rug like it had been for who knows how long.

It's pretty sad about GM. I had high hopes, but it's getting almost comical how bad that company is being ran these days. Ford on the other hand has been putting out some fantastic looking vehicles the past few years. The new Explorers and the Ford Edge are absolutely killer looking.

man! that's super cool! tell more about em'.. are they R/C? Some kind of magnetic system?

WOW LOU! that is REALLY nice!

Bridgetown is good. That one in beaverton is really well stocked from what I remember. Is that tammies?

I agree with the above posters. Building is a personal thing. If you race real cars you can drive a 4 cylinder mini stock, or a 8000 horsepower monster with carbon fiber and titanium everything. Go as far as You want to go. Dont worry about what other people use. A lot of the super detailed projects are a result of people slowly pushing their limits over a long period of time. We all started with a plastic kit, some orange tubes of testors glue and some square bottles of paint. The most satisfying feeling of a completed model is that when you are done, you feel like you did your best on that project.

It's odd. but not too bad. Kind of reminds me of a vector.

I haven't been that excited about Indycar racing since Greg Moore died. Indycars are exciting to watch (at least they were back when i saw them). Its much different then NASCAR, in NASCAR it is a game of inches, and passes happen slowly over time. in Indy racing one guy is 20 yards ahead of the other guy.. the next lap the guy is right on his tail, and the next lap he's passed him and is 20 yards ahead.. I was a big Greg Moore fan, and I wasn't able to go to the Marlboro 500 that year in Fontana, California.. my dad went though and saw the wreck that killed him.. I honestly have't really watched Indycars since.